The Ottawa School of Theatre (OST) is performing a Christmas spectacular you won’t want to miss. The Island of Lost Memories: A Christmas Mystery Heist will be playing at the Shenkman Arts Centre’s Richcraft Theatre from Nov. 28–Dec. 1, and promises fun for all ages.
A great horned owl and a mouse are business partners as private investigators. Laura Robin seeks their services because she believes that her memories—which have vanished—aren’t just gone but have been stolen.
This play, written by OST favourites Bruce Deachman and Joanna Henry, centres animal characters in an epic mystery-turned-heist plot to save Christmas.
“The first half [of the performance] is investigating this mystery,” says Megan Piercey Monafu, artistic director of the OTS. “and they find that indeed the memories have been stolen by an AI program that wants to take over the world.”
Poster for Island of Lost Memories: A Christmas Mystery Heist. Photo provided.
Modern with plenty of humour, Piercey Monafu stresses that this show is written for all ages. The large cast of 56 actors for the OTS come together equally.
“When everybody’s in the rehearsal room, everyone is equal, everyone’s a teammate, everyone’s held to the same standard,” she says. “It’s not something where we send the kids off to do the tiddly bits, and the adults do all the good stuff—we cast based on who’s going to be best for the role.”
With a large cast—the youngest of whom is only eight years old—the way the show is written not only for a cast of all ages, but for an audience of all ages as well.
Piercey Monafu says that looking for scripts that fit this unique performance is tricky, but the show boasts great humour and even greater creativity.
“This one [show] has a lot of things that are genuinely funny, but not raunchy,” she says. “And I think creating it as an animal world means that every character can be really vibrant, so everyone has a good chance to act something that’s really outside of themselves.”
Cast photo of the Ottawa Theatre School’s spring play. Photo provided.
As Ottawa’s longest-running theatre school, the OTS provides theatre education in French and English to students of all ages and backgrounds.
“We try to offer a wide range of the basics of theatre,” says Piercey Monafu. “That includes a little bit of theatre history, classic theatre which would include Shakespeare, as well as acting on camera and musical theatre.”
There are courses for adults and children, and each year the OTS offers special courses depending on the year—this year, it’s sound design for film.
Piercey Monafu says it operates as a preprofessional space where students can learn to take skills from the classroom and be part of a rehearsal process.
“It’s really special to be in a room working with all ages,” she says. “It’s really fun to watch actors of all ages work together—it’s really hard to find that in other places in life.”
Don’t miss The Island of Lost Memories: A Christmas Mystery Heist, performing from Nov. 28-29 at 6:30pm and Nov. 30-Dec. 1 at 1:30pm at the Shenkman Arts Centre, Richcraft Theatre. For tickets, make sure to visit their online link and for more information about the Ottawa Theatre School, check out their website.
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